Over three quarters (77 per cent) of financial advisers use LinkedIn in a professional capacity, while 42 per cent use Twitter and 46 per cent use YouTube, according to a survey by digital group risk insurer Ellipse.
According to Chris Morgan, distributor partnerships manager at Ellipse, it is “clear” that many advisers recognise the value of social media - particularly channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
He said: “This isn’t just to connect with industry peers, but also to keep up-to-date with the latest industry changes, product innovations and best practice.”
The research amongst 251 advisers showed that half of those surveyed use LinkedIn at least a few times a week, with Mr Morgan commenting that with more high quality content flowing through these channels, there is a danger than unconnected advisers will not only be missing an opportunity to engage in debate, but more crucially missing key updates.
However, it also found that the main reason why other advisers are not engaging was a lack of time to do so - with 53 per cent stating this for LinkedIn and 37 per cent for Twitter - closely followed by there being no perceived business value - 19 per cent for LinkedIn and 27 per cent for Twitter.
“We will continue to distribute high quality content through these channels so that advisers can see the value in engaging with us in this way. Mobile access is so easy, that ‘not having the time’ shouldn’t be an objection providing we can show the value,” said Morgan.
The findings follow figures from Financial Social Media reported in FTAdviser sister title Money Management, revealing that the number of financial advisers signing up to social media platforms has gone up from 8,136 in 2012 to 31,898 as of today.
Those users calling themselves financial planners currently stands at 20,558 compared with 6,264 in 2012.
peter.walker@ft.com
